Banner with the moor

The underdrawing of the banner depicting the moor was executed with broad brushstrokes, sometimes stippled. The graphic lay-in of a head facing left and densely sketched hair is generally larger than the painted version (see red mapping lines). The lay-in of the torso is also different from the painted version, being placed lower, and twisted more to the left. On both sides of the figure, the infrared reflectogram reveals two raised bent arms, the one on the left holding a visibly beribboned lance, whose lower section seems to indicate a position in front of the body. With the exception of the left leg, which is extended further than in the painted version, the rest of the underdrawing of the figure is unclear. In any case, the elements described evince extraordinary parallels with corresponding depictions of the moor in the arms of the Magi in the Codex Gelre (1369–1396), in the Richental Chronicle (post-1420) and in the ‘Exempla’ of the Ingeram Codex (1459). Finally, in the context of the depiction of the moor in the Richental Chronicle, the long, curved, partly dabbed line beneath the raised right arm becomes explicable as the planned depiction of a fluttering ribbon.

In the painted version, the figure of the moor departs in many ways from what was envisaged in the underdrawing. Thus the moor was eventually depicted frontally, fashionably dressed in a short garment´, hat and boots. A sabre is attached to the belt around his hips, in his right hand he is holding a lance which has been shifted to the left vis-à-vis the underdrawing, and around which a pennant has been wrapped.